


Joker Trumps Ace

by misura



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, Manipulation, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Damen and Laurent's planned joint presentation of their proposed tax reform does not go according to plan.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Joker Trumps Ace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [broccolicon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/broccolicon/gifts).



Damen was told, first, that the meeting had been postponed, then, that it had been moved, and lastly, when he showed up five minutes late, that it had started three hours ago, in the place originally agreed upon.

As he walked, he told himself it was a simple misunderstanding. As he entered the room, that became a little harder: Laurent was there, had, clearly, been there for all past three hours.

"Husband," Laurent said, smiling in a way Damen found not the least reassuring, "so kind of you to show up."

The kyroi looked various degrees of annoyed, resigned and weary. Under ordinary circumstances, Damen would have sworn that three hours spent with Laurent could be nothing but pleasurable; even if Laurent were asleep, or angry, or irrational - but these were not ordinary circumstances, and these men did not share Damen's fondness for prickly and at times difficult blondes.

"I ... " Damen said. He could have said he had misremembered, or lost track of time.

"Shall I briefly summarize our discussion thus far?" Laurent offered, still smiling. Of all people in the room, Laurent looked the most awake - and the most attractive, of course.

The most dangerous as well, Damen tried not to think. He said, "No, thank you." He and Laurent had planned this meeting, preparing arguments and possible counter-arguments they might face; he did not need Laurent to tell him what he already knew.

"As you wish, of course." Laurent's smile slipped, as if he had expected more, better. As if _Damen_ was the one changing things at the last moment.

Damen sat down, mostly because there seemed to be nothing else to do. He tried to catch up to the discussion, to backtrack from where the discussion was at present to where it had begun, which points had already been accepted and which would require more time and perhaps some more personal conversations.

 _"That is not the way we do things in Akielos,"_ Damen had said, and Laurent had smiled and told him, _"It's how we do things in Vere,"_ which had somehow ended up sounding like a compelling argument at the time, possibly because Laurent had bared his arms, exposing still pale skin, untouched by sunlight.

The current Laurent, who had made Damen be late, wore Veretian clothing, formal and complicated and covering far too much skin.

He also, it became evident, had not been bringing forth the arguments they had previously agreed upon. Instead, Laurent appeared to have changed the core of their proposals entirely.

Listening to Laurent lay out a new system of taxes that seemed the exact opposite of what they had settled on after consulting with numerous merchants, Damen barely managed to keep silent.

Observing Laurent's audience, he was at once disturbed and comforted by what he saw. It was clear that some of the kyroi liked what they were hearing, and equally clear that several were not.

Nikandros, he was pleased to note, was among the latter.

Laurent paused, likely only to draw breath; Damen rose, deciding enough was enough, catching Nikandros's eye as he did so.

Nikandros, with pleasing alacrity, rose as well, proclaiming, "The King desires a moment alone with his consort," which was not, strictly speaking, correct - Laurent was a King in his own right, not merely Damen's consort, but Damen was willing to take what he could get.

The kyroi filtered out, quietly talking among themselves, leaving Damen with Laurent.

"You were very late," said Laurent. "We had to start without you."

"Did you also," Damen said, "have to change the proposed tax reforms?" He tried to sound cool, mildly curious, a bit amused, perhaps, as Laurent would have sounded, but Damen was not Laurent. "If they were so disagreeable to you, you could have - "

"No," Laurent said, interrupting. "No. You misunderstand."

Damen took a deep breath. "Explain."

Laurent gave him a look. "You don't trust me? After everything? I'm hurt."

 _And I'm confused,_ Damen did not say. "I trust you," he said instead, because it was true.

"When you sent away everyone else, I thought it was because you were overcome by lust, not because you wanted to berate me," Laurent said. He was playing with the laces of his sleeve, and while part of Damen recognized it for a trick to distract him, another part of him was, indeed, distracted.

"We're married," Damen said dryly. "I can have you whenever I want." That was not true, or not entirely, but close enough. "Laurent. Talk to me. Help me understand what happened."

"You were too optimistic," Laurent said. "You always are."

"So you - what?" Damen pushed. His fingers itched to reach for Laurent's sleeves, to bat away Laurent's own hands which never seemed to do anything but tease, and undo the laces properly, quickly, to expose Laurent's skin to his eyes and touch.

"I showed them the alternative. I made it so that when you walked in with our actual proposal, they would fall all over themselves to agree," Laurent said. He made it sound reasonable, logical. "Well. Perhaps 'falling all over themselves' is putting it a bit strong, but you get the general idea."

Damen tried to think, to view the matter as Laurent did. To find some aspect of this he could point at and say, _This was well done; with this, I agree_. "You didn't tell me."

Laurent gave him a half-lidded look. "I assumed you'd catch on. Forgive me for overestimating your intelligence. I'll know better next time."

 _There's not going to be a next time._ Damen sighed. "Laurent. I don't want - these people are Akielon." _My friends,_ he almost said. "It's important that they see us as united. You said so yourself."

Laurent shrugged. "Perhaps I changed my mind. I'm allowed to do that, am I not?"

Damen thought there was an odd emphasis on what should have been a rhetorical question.

Laurent sighed. "Pity: even if you were to call them back now, I don't think my plan would work. You ruined it rather thoroughly. I suppose I should be used to that from you, but I guess I forgot."

"This - whatever this is, is not my fault," Damen said.

Laurent widened his eyes. "Are you saying it's mine?"

 _Yes._ Damen swallowed. Laurent smiled. The laces on his left sleeve looked like they might come loose any moment, Damen realized. He wondered when that had happened.

He said, "I don't want to argue with you about this."

"Then what do you want?" Laurent asked, still smiling - with his mouth, at least.

Damen imagined kissing him, imagined having Laurent right here, bent over the council table. "I ... " he said and then, inevitably, helplessly, "You."

"Well," Laurent said. "I can't fault you for lack of clarity on this topic, at least. Still, I thought we were going to discuss my failings in presenting our plans for a tax reform."

"We can have a new meeting tomorrow to set things straight," Damen said. He did not think he was speaking solely to convince Laurent to stop talking; the meeting was important and would need to happen properly, and everyone would need some (but not too much) time to recover.

Damen would speak to Nikandros, to explain, friend to friend, and Nikandros would speak with the others, so that everyone would know the same, as was the Akielon way.

"It's only late afternoon," Laurent protested. "We can call them back right now."

"I thought you said that wouldn't work," Damen said. Laurent hadn't moved, so Damen did.

"It might," Laurent said. "If you're very convincing."

 _I'd rather convince you._ "Stop talking," Damen said. He was close enough to touch Laurent now, and did, and Laurent leaned into his touch, not a lot, but a little, just enough to tease, to hint at how much closer he might lean into it with the proper motivation.

Damen kissed him; the one effective way to make Laurent be silent. He felt Laurent give - again, not fully, pulling back before Damen could proceed to something more than kissing.

"Did you mean what you said?" Laurent asked.

Damen managed not to groan. "Probably. Maybe. What are you referring to?"

" 'I can have you whenever I want,' " Laurent said.

"I can't?" Damen asked, puzzled. He tried to sound teasing, joking. Of course, he would never force Laurent to do anything Laurent did not want to do. Laurent surely knew that as well as Damen did.

Laurent lowered his eyes. "I don't especially care to be taken for granted."

Damen almost laughed with the relief of it. "Nobody could ever take you for granted. Trust me." He reached to kiss Laurent again, and this time, Laurent let him. "Laurent," he said, "I love you. I want you."

"Say 'please'," Laurent said.

This time, Damen did laugh.

And said, "Please," as he had been bid.


End file.
